What I found so dearly intriguing about the South Shores Mysteries:

I decided to start to look up the authors I’ll be hosting on blog tours on #bookstagram, now that I am establishing my own presence on there as well. I enjoy finding other book bloggers and readers on Insta and when it comes to authors, I enjoy seeing how their keeping their feeds active. Some get really cleverly creative when it comes to content and I must admit, my inclination to want to purchase this series was solely motivated by two factors:

the premise I read for Murder on West Lake,

and Foster’s Insta feeds!

She had carved out this entire day to day selection of hours with her lead characters in an old-fashioned block of images which alighted you into their showcased days. It felt so dearly alive to me, and it was a wonderful chase-up to Christmas, too, and dearly inventive on behalf of Foster! I was truly captured by it and with other posts I saw on her feeds which talked about either the characters, the stories or the series overall.

I happen to have a penchant for finding authors who are Ancestry Sleuths in their families, like Mum and I are in ours as well. I find these kinds of women are well-suited to writing Historical Fiction stories and series because they champion History and the intrigue of lost stories of the ancestral past. Another author I’ll be reading this month I showcased in late Autumn, 2024 of whom dips her pen into writing the lives of her ancestors, too. Research into Ancestry is great fodder for being a writer because of all the entanglements you discover once you uncover one seed of information, and it allows you to pursue a whole web of loveliness thereafter!

Whilst what truly had me at ‘hallo’ so to speak was how dramatic this series felt even before I started to read it. As I found myself truly captured by Daniel and Kathleen once I started reading Murder on Oak Street. Their story is dearly heart-wrenching in so many respects and a testament of the will to not only survive but to overcome one’s challenging circumstances. It is difficult to read in some scenes and uplifting in others. It feels authentically real and not forced when it comes to the drama and the evocative circumstances the characters are living through and that is a credit to how Foster approached penning their lives.

My time spent with them has left me further intrigued and I know I shall be carrying on reading the rest of this series. I will be forever grateful I caught the announcement for this lovely blog tour as it led me to becoming introduced to a new voice in Cosy Historical Mysteries with I.M. Foster.

Murder on West Lake
Subtitle: A South Shores Mystery
by I.M. Foster

A scream shattered the tranquil air, echoing off the ice-covered lake, and Daniel's heart froze. He knew that voice all too well.

After a pleasant afternoon of ice skating on the frozen waters of West Lake, local librarian Kathleen Brissedon stumbles across a gruesome sight in the nearby gazebo. It only takes a moment for her beau, assistant coroner Doctor Daniel O'Halleran, to determine that the victim was murdered.

To protect Kathleen from the ghastly sight of the man’s slashed throat, Daniel insists she return home while he examines the body further. Though the immediate cause of death appears obvious, he fears the subsequent autopsy will uncover more questions than answers, and it's clear that he has his work cut out for him if he's going to find the person responsible.

Kathleen has no intention of remaining demurely at home, not when there's a murder to solve. Slipping back to the scene, she conducts her own investigation. Though her discoveries prove interesting, Daniel is too concerned about her safety to stifle his annoyance, especially after the killer makes a second attempt closer to home. But as the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place and Daniel starts closing in on the truth, the killer sets their sights on him.

With the danger increasing, Kathleen intent on assisting in the investigation, and his family descending on Patchogue to spend the Christmas holidays, Daniel has his hands full.

Will he and Kathleen be able to put their heads together and discover who is behind the attacks, or will the killer continue to plague the tranquil South Shore village unhindered?

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8987630631

Also by this author: Murder on Oak Street

Published by Self Published

on 11th December, 2024

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #CoffeePotBookClub, #SouthShoresMysteries, #CosyHistoricalMysteries,
#CosyMystery, #HistoricalMystery

About I.M. Foster

I. M. Foster is the pen name author Inez Foster uses to write her South Shore Mystery series, set on Edwardian Long Island. Inez also writes Historical Romances under the pseudonym Andrea Matthews and has so far published two series in that genre: the Thunder on the Moor series, a time-travel romance set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Borders, and the Cross of Ciaran series, which follows the adventures of a fifth century Celt who finds himself in love with a twentieth-century archaeologist.

Inez is a historian and librarian, who loves to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys doing the research almost as much as she does the actual writing of the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. Inez is a member of the Long Island Romance Writers, the Historical Novel Society, and Sisters in Crime.

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